Friday, June 4, 2010

There's a simple answer to the question, I think. He's going to be the next governor of Iowa, assuming that there are no stunning surprises next week and Chet Culver, the Democrat, doesn't mount a miraculous election year comeback.

Indeed, even as the last previous Republican gubernatorial nominee ahead of the Iowa caucuses, Branstad and his team would have quite a bit of influence over the field operation that a candidate Sarah Palin would need to recruit to win there

If you're thinking about running for president, and I think Palin really is thinking about running for president, you don't get on the wrong side of the guy who will probably be governor during the caucuses by endorsing his opponent, no matter how conservative and Tea Partyish Bob Vander Plaats seems to be. By the way: Vander Plaats's biggest proponent: Mike Huckabee, whose campaign he co-chaired in '08.

Vander Plaats supporters are dragging out polls that show him doing well against Culver. Well, that's fine, but you do know there's a primary first, right? Who cares about the general if you can't even win the primary?

As for the Iowa Presidential election, I don't honestly get what the big deal is. Huckabee won Iowa. He lost the election big time. For Palin it may be essential to make a statement or something, but I don't put all of my eggs in the Iowa basket.

This is a message to extreme “environmentalists” who hypocritically protest domestic energy production offshore and onshore. There is nothing “clean and green” about your efforts. Look, here’s the deal: when you lock up our land, you outsource jobs and opportunity away from America and into foreign countries that are making us beholden to them. Some of these countries don’t like America. Some of these countries don’t care for planet earth like we do – as evidenced by our stricter environmental standards.

With your nonsensical efforts to lock up safer drilling areas, all you’re doing is outsourcing energy development, which makes us more controlled by foreign countries, less safe, and less prosperous on a dirtier planet. Your hypocrisy is showing. You’re not preventing environmental hazards; you’re outsourcing them and making drilling more dangerous.

Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country’s energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and SHALLOW WATER DRILLING have locked up safer areas. It’s catching up with you. The tragic, unprecedented deep water Gulf oil spill proves it.

We need permission to drill in safer areas,includingthe uninhabited arctic land of ANWR. It takes just a tiny footprint – equivalent to the size of LA’s airport – to tap America’s rich and plentiful oil and gas up north. ANWR’s drilling footprint is like a postage stamp on a football field.

“Federal agencies are also now blocking oil development in the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska.

Although familiar with ANWR, most Americans are less likely to know about NPR-A and how vital it is to our energy security. Given recent developments, it’s time to elevate the position this area holds in our national discourse.

NPR-A, a 23 million acre stretch of Alaska’s North Slope, was set aside by President Warren Harding in 1923 for the specific purpose of supplying our country and military with oil and gas. Since 1976 it has been administered by the Department of the Interior, and since 1980 it has been theoretically open for development. The most recent estimates indicate that it holds 12 billion barrels of oil and 73 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

In addition to containing enormous hydrocarbons, NPR-A is very close to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which means that there would be relatively little additional infrastructure needed to bring this new oil to our domestic market.

But even here, progress has been stalled.”

Radical environmentalists: you are damaging the planet with your efforts to lock up safer drilling areas. There’s nothing clean and green about your misguided, nonsensical radicalism, and Americans are on to you as we question your true motives.

- Sarah Palin----------------

Let me read that again.

Nope. I still see nothing about "We shouldn't drill offshore. I never said we should drill offshore. I've always been solely for onshore drilling."

On the contrary, she mentions that deep sea drilling is not preferred. It'd be better to drill IN SHALLOWER WATERS. Unfortunately, greenies think it spoils their view or something.

I gotta tell ya, when Joe first started talking, it didn't really affect me at all. And to be honest, other than understanding that the Palins want some privacy and an oasis where they can get away from people like McGinnis, I haven't really cared about Joe. But the more he went on talking to Matt, the more I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

What was he thinking? He honestly thought that he was going to move in there and that he and the Palins were going to become close friends? I'm sorry, but that....that's odd.

Joe, you're writing a book on her. You've written hit pieces on her in the past. You seriously thought that you and "Sarah" as you call her were going to become good friends? (shudder)

For the record, any fan of Jesse Griffin's, is never, EVER going to be a friend of the Palins. Just sayin'. Matt Lauer should have asked Joe why he's a fan of Trig-truthers.

For me, it's not really about Joe. Joe's pathetic and creepy, to be sure, but it's more about the fact that these lunatic bloggers now have access to being 12 feet away from Palin. They've already run around and taken pictures of her house and Bristol's house, etc... Now they've got somebody they can drop in on as well. One anti-Palin blogger already has.

As for Palin "smearing" Joe, good grief. Maybe if you have a vivid imagination. But in case you're prone to misinterpret, Palin clarifies:

McGinniss has followed us for some time now, from showing up on our doorstep last winter, bidding over $60,000 for a military charity auction dinner with me, writing the hit pieces, attending at least one Outside book event, etc.

He has a right to pursue his subject, I suppose, and certainly has a right to live wherever he wants, but my family also has a right to expect privacy, and hopefully to enjoy peace this summer. Good fences do make for good neighbors.

The fence is now up, and I hope that we can enjoy peace. The media sensationalizes the recent McGinniss’ tactic so the public will tune in to whatever the latest episode is, always with ratings in mind, and that’s unfortunate...

I’m not sure what “ugly innuendo” was in my Facebook post or why it is so controversial to suggest that the presence of a hostile “journalist” writing a hostile book about me is an imposition on my children who simply want to enjoy their summer outside. When I say or write “leave my kids alone,” it means simply that: let my kids have a fun summer without having a “journalist” 15 ft from their play area.

How that equates me with the Nazis is quite beyond me. If receiving nasty emails and even death threats is the standard by which we judge “inciting hatred,” then the left in this country has been “inciting hatred” on my family for almost two years now.

We don’t complain about this or call people “Nazis” because we value freedom of speech enough to believe that even ignorant and hateful people have a right to it. It’s a shame that a self-proclaimed “journalist” doesn’t understand this.

I almost, almost feel sorry for Joe. Not because he's been sooooo persecuted or anything like he claims, but because his life must be kind of sad if he's this desperate for the Palins to bake him cookies. If I was living next door to Joe and he wasn't obsessed with me, I'd try to befriend him. It sounds like he needs some friends.

Oh, well. I guess he can always turn to Phil Munger. I wonder if Phil has asked Joe whether or not he thinks dinosaurs walked the earth with humans. Phil seems to have an odd obsession about asking people that question.

Joe shot himself in the other foot with his over-the-top rhetoric on the Today Show this morning. Benyamin Korn of Jews for Sarah:---------

Up until now, one could merely have accused Sarah Palin’s stalker-biographer, Joe McGinniss, of unethical behavior, even journalistic malpractice.

After all, McGinniss’ decision to move into a house just fifteen feet away from the family he is subjecting to hostile research struck even the hard-hearted as unusually crass and callous. It also famously prompted the construction of a fourteen-foot high screening fence by “first dude” Todd Palin, and elicited sympathy for the Palins from a number of usually less-than-sympathetic sources.

But now McGinniss has outdone his already-gross behavior by telling The Today Show’s Matt Lauer that the Palin’s anguished response to his intrusion should be compared to “Nazi troopers” in 1930s Germany.

In making this comparison, no matter how ludicrous, McGinniss further transgresses the boundaries of decency into an area of intense Jewish concern – the history and meaning of the Nazi Holocaust. His remarks, for starters, show gross insensitivity to Jewish feelings.

When McGinniss invokes “Nazi troopers,” for Jews he conjures up the brown-shirted thugs who rioted in the streets of Berlin in June 1935 and garroted an elderly Jewish man to a tavern table, as recounted by American journalist Varian Fry, in an eyewitness account run the following day on the front page of The New York Times.

When McGinniss invokes “Nazi troopers,”we remember the expulsion of Jews wholesale from German universities, the violent boycotts of Jewish businesses, and the public burnings of “decadent” books (often by Jewish authors) in front of SS-organized mobs.

When McGinniss invokes “Nazi troopers,” Jews think of the German National-Socialist Party’s special shock forces who led enraged mobs in burning down a thousand synagogues – and many more Jewish sites and businesses – over Kristallnacht, in November, 1939.

And of course Jews think of the “Nazi troopers” who rounded up defenseless Jewish civilians in the middle of the night and loaded us onto boxcars “headed for the East.”

This is why Jews are still “sensitive” to facile comparisons with “Nazi troopers,” even by a low-life journalist of McGinniss’ stripe. Because McGinniss’ foolish analogy cheapens the meaning and memory of the Holocaust.

Jewish defense organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, would do well to rebuke McGinniss, unless they think he is beneath their purview.

But really, because McGinniss’ comparison of Germany in those dark times to the America of today is so outrageous and appalling, he should be repudiated by all thinking people of good will.

And because McGinniss’ comparison demeans a political leader and a popular movement whose character are overwhelmingly peaceful, democratic and tolerant of all races and religions, all Americans should reject him, and hang on him a letter of shame.

Gov. Sarah Palin, the Tea Party movement, and the awakening voters of America, will not long remember this unprincipled opportunist who calls himself a journalist. But the American people, McGinniss’ publisher, and most of all the Jewish community, should be disgusted that he has so cheapened the public discourse.-----------

It may seem like a small thing, considering the state of the union and international issues of the day, but let me share some facts surrounding a most recent illustration of the untrustworthiness of America’s mainstream media.

Yesterday, Todd and I spent our Memorial Day evening exchanging emails with NBC in regards to the interview they conducted this morning with our new neighbor. As you’ll recall, the “journalist” Joe McGinniss moved all the way from Massachusetts to Wasilla – literally right next door to our home – after tracking us down in various forums this past year, so that he could be close to his “subject matter” while he writes his book about me.

When NBC asked to interview me for this story, I politely declined. NBC then asked for a statement from us and promised to run it as a full screen graphic during their interview with McGinniss. We were glad to provide a statement and appreciated NBC’s promise to run it. Todd and I both crafted the statement very carefully because our new neighbor has taken to accusing us of “inciting hatred” – a charge which we obviously take very seriously. We knew that he would make more accusations like this, and we felt very strongly that such comments should not go unanswered. So, we emailed NBC the following statements:

“McGinniss has followed us for some time now, from showing up on our doorstep last winter, bidding over $60,000 for a military charity auction dinner with me, writing the hit pieces, attending at least one Outside book event, etc. He has a right to pursue his subject, I suppose, and certainly has a right to live wherever he wants, but my family also has a right to expect privacy, and hopefully to enjoy peace this summer. Good fences do make for good neighbors. The fence is now up, and I hope that we can enjoy peace. The media sensationalizes the recent McGinniss’ tactic so the public will tune in to whatever the latest episode is, always with ratings in mind, and that’s unfortunate.” - Sarah Palin

“What’s also unfortunate is journalists’ tactics like this, because it keeps good people from wanting to get involved in public service.” - Todd Palin

NBC responded to thank us for our statements and again promised that they would “make sure” that the Today Show airs both of our statements “as a fullscreen graphic during the segment tomorrow.” We were grateful because we knew that our statements would counter any accusation of “inciting hatred.” And boy was it necessary because in his interview on NBC this morning McGinniss doubled down on his accusation to actually compare us to the Nazis!

But there was just one problem: NBC broke their promise and didn’t run our statements after all. So, the “journalist’s” sensational claims about us being Nazis went unchallenged. We emailed NBC this morning to ask why our statement wasn’t aired. We were given a lame excuse and told that they would run it tomorrow (after the damage had been done) and that they would be happy to interview me about it (which was their aim all along because journalism today is all about ratings and not about truth).

The interview itself was quite an eye-opener. I’m not sure what “ugly innuendo” was in my Facebook post or why it is so controversial to suggest that the presence of a hostile “journalist” writing a hostile book about me is an imposition on my children who simply want to enjoy their summer outside. When I say or write “leave my kids alone,” it means simply that: let my kids have a fun summer without having a “journalist” 15 ft from their play area. How that equates me with the Nazis is quite beyond me. If receiving nasty emails and even death threats is the standard by which we judge “inciting hatred,” then the left in this country has been “inciting hatred” on my family for almost two years now. We don’t complain about this or call people “Nazis” because we value freedom of speech enough to believe that even ignorant and hateful people have a right to it. It’s a shame that a self-proclaimed “journalist” doesn’t understand this.

And it’s a shame that Todd and I had another disappointing encounter with the media on Memorial Day of all days. It was time that we could have spent with our kids and on a day when we honor those who have died in defense of our Constitution, including our freedom of the press.

Freedom of the press is integral to our democracy, but reporters must be held accountable because with power comes responsibility. A corrupt, deceptive, and manipulative media can ruin the lives of good people, disrupt families, destroy reputations, and ultimately hurt our country.

I’d like to believe that it’s not too late to demand integrity from our media. Thank goodness for social networking sites like this and new media sites which have allowed us to get around the “lamestream” media and present the facts. But let this story be another example of why you must seek out facts and truth about anything and everything you see reported today.

- Sarah Palin---------------

Um, media? Now you know that you can't pull anything behind the scenes with Sarah Palin and get away with it. She'll let the whole world know. Talk about transparency. :)

“Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”- General Orders No.11, Grand Army of the Republic Headquarters, May 5, 1868

This weekend, as we enjoy time with family and friends, we should stop and remember the meaning of this national holiday. Memorial Day is a uniquely American holiday that finds its origins in the aftermath of our Civil War, when our country searched for a proper way to commemorate the many who had fallen in the long struggle to end slavery and unify our nation.

Today, we remember all of those throughout our history and to this very day who gave their lives serving our country in uniform. Our prayers are especially with the surviving family members for whom everyday is memorial day, as they live on remembering their loved ones who died selflessly to protect the freedoms we hold dear.

And on Memorial Day, let us also remember all veterans, past and present, because everyone who wears the uniform and swears the oath is willing to make that ultimate sacrifice for America. So, in honoring them let’s keep in mind this version of a popular poem as we show respect for those willing to sacrifice all for our exceptional country:

“It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.

It is the veteran, who salutes the flag, who serves under the flag, and whose coffin will be draped by the flag.”

And, according to these “highly trained” civil servants, I am a threat to America’s national security and must be deported.

On June 30, at 8 a.m., I have a hearing before Immigration Judge Rico J. Bartolomei at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration Court in San Diego.

But I am not worried about this. I am outraged! My only concern is about a security system that is so primitive and naive that it endangers the lives of countless Americans. Honestly, Judge Bartolomei’s verdict really does not matter. If he rules to deport me, I will appeal. And Homeland Security has assured me that, if he rules in my favor, they will appeal. And this insane merry-go-round can go on like that for decades.

My concern is not about being deported. It is that I am being forced to stand and defend myself as a terrorist! This is ridiculous. And as long as this case is in the courts, I cannot leave the United States. If I do, I will never be able to return. For what? For risking my life fighting terrorism in the Middle East for ten years? For saving the lives of Israelis, Palestinians and Americans?

I should never be put through this in the first place. It’s crazy.

Don’t think that I am writing this post to get you to feel sorry for me or even to write your congressman or senator on my behalf. I believe that God is using this situation to expose the weaknesses of Homeland Security and to put pressure on it to make changes that can save lives and preserve freedom.....

It began when I arrived in America January 2, 2007. I walked into the airport like anyone else on a tourist visa. Seven months later, I went to the Homeland Security office, knocked on their door and told them, “Hey, guys, I am the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, my father is involved in a terrorist organization, and I would like political asylum in your country.”

They were shocked. They didn’t expect it. I told them, hey, you didn’t discover me. You didn’t catch me. I came to you and told you who I am to wake you up. I wanted them to see that they have huge gaps in their security and their understanding of terrorism and make changes before it’s too late....

Yes, while working for Israeli intelligence, I posed as a terrorist. Yes, I carried a gun. Yes, I was in terrorist meetings with Yassir Arafat, my father and other Hamas leaders. It was part of my job. And I passed on to the Shin Bet all the information I gathered during those meetings and saved the lives of many people—including many Americans.

Maybe Homeland Security only read a few chapters of my book. If they would have bothered to read all 251 pages, they would know that I also worked with 40 Americans on the USAID water project in the West Bank for five years. Who took care of their security? Who warned them not to come to Ramallah if there was going to be an Israeli military incursion or if there would be shooting? Who protected their offices? I wasn’t being paid to do that. I did it because of a Christian morality that taught me to love, not hate. I protected my manager. I protected everybody. Nobody hurt them.

Is this the behavior of someone who is a threat to Americans?

If Homeland Security cannot tell the difference between a terrorist and a man who spent his life fighting terrorism, how can they protect their own people? Why is Homeland Security wasting its time investigating a former Israeli intelligence operative, instead of looking for the real terrorists out there? Is it personal? Racial? Political? Or just stupidity?

One thing I have learned, they are definitely arrogant, acting as though they are something special and know everything there is to know about fighting terrorism.

The FBI, on the other hand, has a much better understanding of terrorism and recognizes me as a valuable asset. They told Homeland Security that I am not a threat and advised them to drop the case. But Homeland Security shut its eyes and stopped up its ears and told the FBI, “You have nothing to do with this. It is our job...."

Homeland Security has absolutely no idea of the dangers that lie ahead. For nearly 30 years, I watched from the inside as Hamas dug its claws deeper and deeper into Israel. They started awkwardly, clumsily, but they got good at it. And al-Qaeda is becoming more like Hamas....

Exposing terrorist secrets and warning the world in my first book cost me everything. I am a traitor to my people, disowned by my family, a man without a country. And now the country I came to for sanctuary is turning its back....--------------

Excerpts from a hilarious article in Big Hollywood. The diary of Joe McGinnis:--------------

May 19, 2010: I’ve arrived in Wasilla, Alaska, home to Sarah Palin! But it’s clear she’s already prepared an unfriendly reception. When I told the cabbie “I’m Joe McGinniss, the best-selling author,” he tried to act like he didn’t even know who I was. Well, if these hillbillies think they can fool this newshound, they’ve got another thing coming!

May 21, 2010 (3 p.m): Bingo! Todd is in the backyard with a shovel. This is going to be good!

May 25, 2010: I saw a caribou and a moose, which I now understand are different things. Also, wolves got into my trash can last night. This place is like that safari I took in Kenya except colder and with more flannel.

May 26, 2010: Sarah’s fascist tendencies are on full display AGAIN! Now she’s gone and built a 15-foot fence between our houses. This woman’s gall knows no bounds. She has zero respect for my rights and prerogatives. I’m a member of the media, not some schmuck on the street! This kind of shameless manipulation of the press smells of the influence of Karl Rove, who I think I saw disguised as a pizza delivery guy. But she will not succeed! Tomorrow, into town to buy myself a ladder!

May 27, 2010 (Morning): Back to town again. Palin’s clearly gotten all her local pals behind her. I went into the hardware store to buy a ladder and the guy at the counter wanted some ID when I handed over my credit card. “I’m Joe McGinniss, the former best-selling author,” I said, but he totally pretended not to even know who I was. Do they really think they can hide this conspiracy?

May 29, 2010 (Evening): So, I’m pawing through the Palins’ garbage and suddenly it hits me – paper, aluminum, glass, all together in one can. The woman refuses to recycle! I think I just found the smoking icepick.

May 30, 2010: Bingo! I’m fast asleep at quarter to ten this morning with all the shades drawn and I hear a ruckus next door. I drag myself out of bed and look into their front yard and the whole brood is dressed up and piling into their SUV. Where the hell would a family be going together early on a Sunday morning when good Christian souls and Holy Cross graduates are home sleeping? I don’t know – yet – but my reporter’s instincts are tingling!

June 1, 2010: Stupid wolves got into my trashcans again. Geez, can’t someone do something about these damn pests? What do they think this book is going to be titled — The Call of the Wild?------------

LOL!

And on a more serious note, we know that McGinnis has dined with Trig-Truthers and is a big fan of the most disgusting ones, but The Other McCain reminds us.

Oh, and there's apparently another belly-draggerwho's buddied up to Joe. This was also posted over at Firedoglake, and I don't know which guy it originally comes from. My guess would be Munger, but that's just a guess.

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Disclaimer

Disclaimers seem to be fashionable these days, so here's mine:

If you think that anything on this blog is in any way connected to Governor Palin herself, you're nuts. These are all my own stupid opinions. Palin probably doesn't even know I exist, nor does she care.

There, that should do it.

Oh, and don't assume that my posts from a year ago reflect the exact same opinion I hold now. I don't have time to go back and update every time I change my mind for the one or two people who are going to click on that post in the future.

"Notice how they’ll accept anything except a (wo)man who stands alone. They recognize (her) at once . . . . There’s a special, insidious kind of hatred for her. They forgive criminals. They admire dictators....They’ve got to force their miserable little personalities on every single person they meet. The independent (wo)man kills them—because they don’t exist within her and that’s the only form of existence they know. Notice the malignant kind of resentment against any idea that propounds independence. Notice the malice toward an independent (wo)man." - The Fountainhead